


Ebb and Flow

by maho_anpu



Category: Original Work
Genre: Lol same tag, Multi, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 14:23:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maho_anpu/pseuds/maho_anpu
Summary: She came here to grieve.





	Ebb and Flow

**Author's Note:**

> -The story's pretty general, so you don't need to understand the universe.  
> -First finished work since forever. Just got back to writing.  
> -English is not my first language.  
> -This is a practice work.  
> -Semi-canon.  
> -Open to constructive criticism.

'Nami...'

She mumbles a part of her name to herself. Her idle voice is defeated by the sound of the lounge waves crashing to the shore all over the coast, accompanied by children's laughters and seabirds' twitterings.

The lone woman sits by a bench quite far from the water, but she could feel as if it's drowning her in her deep thoughts as she closes her eyes.

She came here to grieve, with that thought, she could feel her eyelids getting a little bit wet, until a familiar male voice calls out to her.

'Honami..?'

She jumped a little bit off her seat and let out a little squeak, before she could see the slightly confused face that called her name.

'Ah, Hiro! Wh- what are you doing here?' She's still trying to get hold of the situation.

'My way home passes this beach and I thought I'd get some fresh air...' He walks closer to the bench as he put his car keys to his pocket.

The man is wearing a white shirt with a dark blue blazer and black pants. The look you usually see on formal occasions. Noticing this, she asks;

'You're from a trial?'

'Yeah, a hard one.' He lets out a sigh while he sits down beside her.

She knows that she doesn't really understand his field of work, but she asked about what it was for courtesy.

'I'm defending a person that has been in jail for 2 years... Previously he was verdicted to be there for 5 years but according to the lawbook the crime he commited only gives 2 years for the punishment.'

'Aah, that sounds confusing.' She tries to comment with adding little pinch of emphaty to her tone.

'It is.. But glad I won the case and my client won't serve more jail time.'

She smiles seeing the proud look on his face. She herself, feels proud of her friend.

'How about you?' He turns his eyes to her.

She took a slight moment to appreciate the shine on his cerulean eyes before raising her eyebrows. 'Hm?'

'What are you doing here?'

'Oh, um.. just relaxing..' She faces away from him back to the ocean view.

'It's nice to see this beautiful part of the ocean...' She lets the breeze sway her hair off her shoulders for a moment. 'And Andy wants to pla--'

'It's uncle Hero!!'

What interrupted her words came from a small figure running towards them. The unique shrieking childish voice makes them both immediately realize who the owner is.

'There he is.' She mutters.

'Hey!! It's--' He studies the little figure that has arrived in front of them for a moment. 'Sandy!!'

Standing in front of them is a brunette boy, not more than 5 years of age. His top to bottom is almost entirely covered by sand. The boy looks at the grown man for a moment, then sends out a laughter.

'Hahaha! Because I was playing with the sand? Ahahahahaha!!' He almost teared up laughing.

'You and your puns, Hiro.' She comments to the person beside her in a rout tone.

The person beside her chuckles. 'As long as he likes it.'

'Uncle Hero!! Lift me up so I can see the sunset!' The boy seemed to have calmed down from his laughter.

'You don't need for him to lift you up to see the sunset, dear...' She informs the boy.

There's a mild dissappointment on the boy's face. The man notices this, and though he had a tiring and rough day at work, he thought a little weight lift won't hurt.

'Alright.., but I don't want to get sand all over my hair.'

The women beside him sighs in defeat.

The boy's face immediately becomes brighter. He honestly could care less about the sunset, he just wants to sit on the man's shoulders.

'Alright! I'll just do this! And that! Hyah! Hyoohhh!!' The boy strikes some different poses. Crossing his arms, jumping, squatting, anything he could think to get the sand off his body in ways that he thinks are cool.

She is amazed and confused at the same time seeing the boy's moves. 'Did you thought him those poses?' She asks to the man.

'Of course I did.'

'Come here, Andy.' After realizing the boy only have a little bit of sand left on his skin, he stands up, lifts the boy to sit among his shoulders. 'Weee!!' The boy cheered.

She notices the way he lifts the boy. It's almost effortless, just if he had not have a tiring day. She recalls a bit of memory from her head, that he used to play many kinds of sports in the past.

'Waahh!! It's so pretty!' The child's voice takes her back to the present.

'That orange thing is the sun, right uncle Hero? Why is the ocean eating it?'

'You see, Andy...' He starts explaining. She looks at him and the child on his shoulders without paying attention to what they're talking about. She's mesmerized by the man's golden hair that adorns the warm afternoon's orange atmosphere, the smile on his face and the one on his shoulders' made her didn't realize that she too, is smiling.

'..that's awesome!!' The child broke her silence.

'I didn't notice, it's sunset already...' She turns her head to the ocean the moment the man notices she's been observing him.

'Honey, why don't you pack your toys and rinse yourself?' Now she focuses on the boy only.

'Okay!' The man carefully let go of the boy from his shoulders to put him back on his feet. 

'You can do it by yourself, right?' She asks the boy as she gives him a white towel from her bag.

'Of course I can!' 

'I'll be right here if you need any help, okay?'

'Roger that!' The boy gives an act of salute by putting his right hand on his temple, then runs away to where he was before.

They watch the boy from afar running to what seems to be a petite sandcastle, with toy shovels and buckets around it. The man goes back to his seat, and then there is a minute of silence.

'He's so lucky to have you.'

Both of them said the same thing at the same time. 

'What?'

Both of them said the same thing at the same time, for the second time. This time, they look at each other's eyes. After a moment of disbelief, they break a laugh.

It's not the first time a situation like this has happened to them, but it is the first time since a quite while.

'Thank you, Hiro.' She continues the conversation after calming down. 'For being on my back.'

'It's been 2 years since he left-- from this very sea.' She looks back to the ocean's horizon.

'That's the actual reason I went here.'

'That's why I'm here too.' He promptly replies.

She turns from the ocean to his face. 'Really?'

'I'm an investigator, Hon. Don't want Andy to see your face in case you broke down.'

'Well, you're here so I'm not going to.' She looks down. 'It's still hard to glimpse... I couldn't help but miss him and worrying for him.. But I kept going with life, I moved on.'

'I know.' Another brief reply, but continued by an ask. 'You don't want me to search for him?'

'Let me guess. You're going to say that you're an investigator?'

'You got me!' He scratches his head. She chuckles.

'Well, I don't think he wants to be found.' She pauses for a moment.

'After what he did to me.. I'm not sure about my feelings either.' He notices the change on her tone, and a slight sorrow on her face.

She lifts her face almost immediately after finishing her words. He is slightly taken aback, making him realize that he's been admiring her since the start of their conversation.

'To be honest, I'm quite happy than I think I should be.' She smiles, but he's not sure if it is genuine or not. 'And I am grateful for that.'

He replies with a smile. He's not sure wether that smile of his own is genuine or not either. 'As long as she's happy' has always been his principle for her since a long time ago, but recalling why he has to think that way hurts him.

'Mom!! I'm done!' The child's voice rapidly comes near where they're sitting. He has a towel put on his left shoulder and a bag full of toys being held by his right hand.

'You're fast!' She compliments. The boy is flattered.

'Now let's go home before it gets too dark, shall we?' She stands off the bench. 'Hiro, if you'll excuse--'

'You want a ride?' He cuts her words.

'What? But..'

'Yay!! We are riding uncle Hero's car!!' The boy runs to a black Subaru parked around a dozen meters from the bench they were sitting.

'Andhikha!' She nags the boy. But her voice didn't reached out for he was already running away.

'Sheesh..'

'You have no option then.' The man gets his car keys out of his pocket as he stands up.

'I guess I don't..'

...

'We arrived home!' The boy gets closer to the car's window to see the outside view.

They park in front of a medium-sized modern house painted in white and dark purple, after roughly 30 minutes on the trip. They get off the car.

'Thank you uncle Hero!! High five!!' The boy makes a gesture to the man, and unreluctantly gets the expected reply.

'Play with me next time, okay!' He runs to the door. 'Mr Puddle!! We're home!!' A few seconds after the boy's shout, the door opens, as if the waiter of the house knew exactly when they'd be home.

The two that the boy left could only grin at each other.

'Thanks for the ride.'

'Don't mention it. It'd take you anywhere.'

'Geez, Hiro!' She jokingly hits his arm.

'Hey uh, before I leave, I have something to ask you but ended up forgetting it...' He scratches his temple.

'What is it?'

'Some time ago my client was a French businessman... He gave me two tickets to Paris for winning the case.' He diverts his eyes. 'He thought I had someone.'

'Paris is one train trip away from here...' A slight confusion on her tone.

'Oh, I forgot to mention he also gave me tickets to ascend the Eiffel Tower.'

'Ooh!' A little appetence on her face. 'So you're asking me to--'

'Yeah.'

'But Andhi-'

'Remember when your dad said he wants to take Andy around the world?' He recalls.

'Ah, you're right.'

'I talked to him about this.'

She hesitates for a while. It kind of delights her that he had thought this through. She definitely could trust her father, and he would love to have his grandson on a trip with him. But she would have to think of an excuse to not make things-- awkward.

As much as she loves her current routine, the thought of that wonderful glow of the night from the top of Europe's favorite tourist destination takes over her mind.

'Well, honestly this parenting thing sometimes gets tiring-- Do I sound bad saying that?' She chuckles.

'Pretty sure everyone needs their break.'

'Just the two of us? Wouldn't it be weird?' She faces away from him.

'Two lifelong friends hanging out is not-- weird..' There's a slight indefinite tone in his words, but neither of them noticed.

'But I'm planning on meeting someone there.' He continues.

'Oh? But you-- you just said you didn't have someone.' She tries to act unbothered.

He turns to her with a mocking gaze. She's confused what that face means. He lifts his eyebrows. She squints her eyes, and opens it wide after a few moments. He nods, making a gesture that says 'finally you realized'.

'Gresom!!' She almost shouts.

'Yep.' He briefly clarifies.

'God, it's been a while! I wonder what he's up to.' She unconsciously looks up to the air. She wonders if she used the right pronouns.

'Heard he works on law enforcement business too.'

'Us three and Paris... Sure brings back memories.' She lowers her head.

'Hey, the past is in the past okay? Let's just learn from it.' He puts his hand on top of her head. She slowly nods.

'Well, I better get going now.. I'll send you the details, okay? Let's chat on the phone.' He opens his car door.

She lifts her head back. 'Yes.'

'Take care, okay?'

'You too, Hiro.' She smiles.

He answers with the same act.

She could hear the starting engine and the moment she realizes, his car is already gone to the distance.

She lets out a sigh.

'Platonic?'

A voice came from behind her shoulders. She shrieks as she moves several feets away from where she was standing.

'Oh my God Setia you scared the hell out of me!'

What turns out to be the voice of her butler didn't heed his master's complaint.

'Also what did you say?' She asks with a fretful tone.

'I've prepared dinner.' He's not lying, he's just simply ignoring her questions.

'Oh no, that's definitely not what you said.'

'I've made fish and chips.' He ignores her once again.

'If what you said is what I think it is..' She pauses, turns away so her butler couldn't see her face. 'Yes, it is.'

The latter is so used to this behaviour of the young lady. He faintly sees an annoyed face, but just like what he expected, with a little tint of red.

'Go inside, miss. It's getting cold.'

They walk to the door.


End file.
